First, there's still something wonderfully cool about stuff that is explosive and aerodynamic.

Secondly, Space Camp is still one of the coolest things in Huntsville.

It's become such an institution, such a part of the scenery alongside I-565, we sometimes take it for granted. It's just this elongated campus sprouting tall rockets we speed past.

But Space Camp (along with its sweatier cousin, Aviation Challenge) is a thread woven in Huntsville's DNA. It's part of our national, indeed international, identity.

And when you can go there and push a button and launch a rocket, even if the rocket is just a fraction the size of your imagination, it doesn't get much cooler.

I'm on a concrete slab on the edge of a sprawling field, the launch pad site. An electronics panel is in front of me. My finger is poised over a recessed red button.

Nearby is a sign with the words, "Aim High." On either side, it tells the story of Homer Hickam, the Huntsville author.

He's best known for his work, "Rocket Boys," his autobiography from the days when he and a bunch of West Virginia pals launched rockets smaller than their own imaginations.

Today, there are Rocket Girls.

Ten girls, rising seventh graders, place their Space Camp-crafted rockets on platforms and, one at a time, as others watch from behind a glass barrier, push the button to launch the rockets. The glee isn't quite on the level of a Justin Bieber sighting, but close.

Next comes a team of Rocket Boys from India, here for a few days after a visit to Washington, D.C.

It's still another piece of the Dr. Wernher von Braun legacy, an idea he generated that was so masterfully brought to life by Ed Buckbee.

It has evolved nicely. They've cleared the field to launch rockets. They've broadened the curriculum of Aviation Challenge beyond zip lines and computer simulation and pretend-playing-Army. Rather than the shuttle replica, because future astronauts among today's campers will never fly a shuttle, they've created missions to Mars and asteroids in new simulators.

Hang around Space Camp all day, and you wish you were on the cusp of your 13th birthday. You hear this so often, you begin to think it's like piped-in music:

"That was SO much fun," campers exclaim.

Earlier this week, NBC's "Today Show" gave Space Camp an attaboy. It was in conjunction with a "Budget Traveler" magazine piece entitled, "15 More Places Every Kid Should See Before 15" that had U.S. Space & Rocket Center tops on its list.

Some 600,000 participants have come here from all 50 states and 59 countries.

Oh, well. So much for this riveting bit of dialog from the old movie "Space Camp."

Andi: "Great. I get to play 'Let's Pretend I'm an Astronaut' with a bunch of kids."

Zack: "These aren't just kids you know. These are clean-cut, well motivated, all-American kids."

One ...

I push the red button. In an instant, laughing at gravity with just a gentle kiss of a sound, my rocket is 150 feet in the air, a dancing white missile against the blue sky.

One simple red button, one short flight and the years magically melt away. An aging man is a Rocket Boy.

Contact Mark McCarter at mark.mccarter@htimes.com and follow him on Twitter @markmccarter